Greater Lowell Tech Narrative

The race had already been postponed from a previous date, and after having to wait an extra week for our highly anticipated home invite, our entire team was stirring by the time the day finally befell us. It was a reassuring feeling to be able to warm up on the course knowing that every step of the 3.11 mile course had been imprinted into from the time I had started running on it the summer before. Granted the weather wasn’t perfect by any means and the course’s condition was already less than stellar, but I could make do, to be honest I was too excited to even let it

It’s the day of the Holy Apostles track meet for my 8th grade year and the air was very brisk and breezy. The only running event I had for that day was the 800m race. I started running the 800m in 4th grade. It was my best race and the race I liked the most. I had never won the 800m against these schools before, and I definitely wasn’t expecting to win that day. My rivals in this race were from three other schools St. Leonards, St. Joan of Arc, and MQS . The girl from St. Leonards, Sydney Bartz, was a girl who I have beaten and have raced against since I was in 5th grade. My other two rivals were from St. Joan of Arc and MQS ,Zoey Goodman, who was the girl who I have been up against since 5th grade and I have never beaten her because she has

I decided to distance myself, I walked down the mountain and set my board down atop the snow. Taking deep breaths, and moving the cold air through my body I slowly began to relax. I realised there were small movements each rider was choosing to make themselves go faster. I then made the decision that in my second run I would not care about the results, I decided that I would be happy if I had control over my board. I calculated the different motions I needed for each jump, roller, and turn. Instead of focusing on the finish line, I would focus on my movements through each element of the course. I pulled out of the gate for my second run and carefully positioned my legs approaching the first jump, I moved into the right position on the series of banked turns, and tucked my body across the finish line. I smiled as I braked following the end of the course, the run did not feel fast, but I was satisfied with my fluidity and

One day on May 11, 2017 during IHSA 3A Ottawa sectionals for track and field, I was running the 400 meter dash and the 4x4 meter relay. I was mainly focused on my main event which was the 400 meter dash because my goal was to qualify for state. Coming into this race, I already knew I had a disadvantage because I was assigned to lane 8 but I had mentally prepared myself days before sectionals. I’m standing at the starting line ready to give my all and hoping to make it to state. The gun is shot to start the race, and within 120 meters left of my race I see my competitors gaining a lead off the curb. I mentally start to tear down because I expected myself to keep up with them. At the end of the race I kept my composure even though I wanted to cry on the inside. This was a challenging moment for me, I worked hard everyday in practice to miss qualifying for state by 2 seconds.

Beep. Beep. Beep. It’s my 7:00am alarm and warmups are in an hour. I pull on my tight navy suit and bring the white straps over my shoulders. I throw on my black Nike running shorts and my white team shirt. I hop in the car with my giant luggage like bag with a banana and Gatorade in hand. Warmups are the dreaded time where everyone in each team gathers in the confined spaces of usually two or three lanes. After the normal warmup, each team lines up for dives. It’s a time to practice your starts, turns and sprints. I was practicing the most for my 50 freestyle, because I wanted to drop a few seconds from my previous time. Dive after dive I was not getting the times I wanted. The meet started in 10 minutes and I knew I had to get ready for my other events and go talk to my coaches for the team cheer. After the national anthem and cheers the first race started, I had some time so I began to work on my lap splits. I kept getting close to my goal but I still needed time. Going into my first race, I felt really warmed up and ready. I completed my first race easy. After talking to my coaches about my first race I was feeling better about my times and everything else contributing to my goal. I cooled down from my last race and ate a snack. As my next race was coming up I began to warm up and find my lane. This race wasn’t a big deal so my nerves were good. I step up onto the wet blue block and grab onto the silver poles on the side. I dove into the water feeling refreshed. One more race after this. I finished the race perfectly. My coaches were very confident in me. My head coach Todd gave me a nice warmup to do before my race. He had me do 5x100s easy and then 3x50s sprint. I had some free time before I had to start warming up, so I hung out with my teammates and stayed hydrated. About 5 events before mine I began warming up. I began making good times and kept my form. I didn’t want to get exhausted before my race so I began

This race was one of the first examples from which I had learned the power and importance of hardwork and determination. As I was emerging my teenage years, it was one of the most important lessons I had taken from that period of time; one that I still apply to my daily life. I had only started running for a couple weeks, in which my team and I ran through the frigid early spring weather, the scorching heat, and the fatigue after a seven-hour school day. All the work put in by not only myself, but my teammates and coaches, revealed to me the power dedication, hardwork, and determination has to bring about incredible

BOOM! The starting gun sounded and the biggest dual meet of the year was off. After much anticipation, preparation, and strategizing, the most important 5 kilometers of my young running career had started.

It was a warm sunny day on April 30th 2016. I was driving with my sister, Sarah, and my grandma. We’re in the car driving towards Lawrence Tech for the Robotics Competition. I was nervous yet excited. We arrived at Lawrence Tech. It seemed huge. We parked in a parking lot and then went inside. The competition was bigger than last time. “This was states” I thought. “I see them!” My sister said quietly while pointing to my group. We headed up the stairs to the top layer to exhibition. My group was called Kenwood Cogs. Only Emily, the captain, and Noah were there. I was the co-captain according to Emily. I looked at the robot that gave us 3rd place last time. After a little bit of setting up Charlie arrived. After the announcements we’re over

I jogged over to my bag, and as I grabbed my spikes, I heard many of my teammates shout, “Good luck, Haley! You’ve got this!”. I nodded my head and muttered a “Thanks guys” as I quickly took off to go check in. Anxiety was already beginning to fill my stomach. I could feel the tingly sensation that some people called “butterflies” beginning to form. The feeling sunk in my stomach and remained their uncomfortably. “Alright, calm down. I still have 25 minutes till race time”, I thought to myself. Some nerves were good, but the anxiety part was just unnecessary. As I got to the check-in tent, I gave them my name, and returned to the middle of the football field where countless other hurdlers were starting to warm up. I knew who most of my competitors in my heat were going to be. To my left, I could spy a short and skinny girl with long, brown curly hair, a red uniform, and bright blue spikes who was most likely the fastest girl in the race. She was seeded 3rd in state and had been hurdling for years. However, instead of being focused on the competitors, I was focused on hitting the qualifying time that I had been aiming at the whole season. This aspect of the race brought a slight breath of fresh, soothing air to my lungs because it meant the race was in my control and was something I could dictate. I began to set up hurdles to start practicing. As I was striding over my last one, another

I continued to do the best that I could. I saw other people in my age group running by me at the same moment I was struggling to compose myself. I didnt know if I missed my chance in winning this pretigious race.

As we pulled into the race track i could feel my stomach start to turn. My dad dropped me off to pull a pill to see where I will start. I pulled a 35 whitch means i will probably be starting about 5th. So we drive the truck back to our pit stall. I unload the car and as im doing it my fellow racers ask me how im doing. We talk for a bit then we go back to the trailors and get ready. When i start the car to pull out onto the track my stomach turns and i get a bad feeling but it`s no different then usual. So i get out there and i take the green and all my worries go away. I am driving past people and within 5 laps i am in the lead i am racing hard and running a good line hitting all my marks. When i got the white flag i could feel Ryan Liester

About twenty minutes later the bus arrived, and we were at the meet. It was at Anchor Bay High School, which I had never been to. The course was within 1.5 miles long. The team and I started to do some warm-ups, and stretches. The announcer had let us know it was time to line up, so everyone went over to the starting line. All of the schools were now lined up, we were about to start running,

My palms are sweating more than usual, my head is swirling around the room and I knew at this very moment there was no going back. Was I going to survive this impenetrable situation? My heart raced so fast I felt it falling out of my chest, and I shut my eyes and all I could hear was the loud frightening gunshot. This feeling of sickness is what I live for, track is my friend/enemy. I’ve been on varsity track since ninth grade and it has overall played a major impact on my life. This sport showed me how hard work and disciplinary can take you far. I’ve been doing this for awhile but I always get that “rush” right before any race. I'm petrified before the gunshot, i'm moving so fast i'm not even able to process the moment and everything around

It was close to the mile relay, which was the main event of a track meet the last races of the night, it was a normal night cold outside. The 3-other varsity member of the relay hurt them self in the 100-m sprint relay so I was the only fast guy left on the relay with reserves pulled up from JV which none of them was fast as I was or fasts enough to be on varsity they were all freshman. This was a big problem my first relay I was facing the most controversy you could face. I would have to be the anchor which meant that I was the last one to get the baton. We started the race the 1st was not that bad he was

Even though I would have been under so much pressure, I was so confident in myself that I wasn't even nervous. I don't remember anything that happened during the race but when I looked at my time, it was my personal best. The list of the names of the people who qualified had come up on the electric bulletin board. I was in 4th place. I had just half an hour to get ready for the finals, which was a tough schedule for me because I was exhausted. I became very nervous. Adding on to that, my coach kept saying that it would be nice if I came in third place, pressuring me even more. I made good use of that half an hour, and I was completely ready for my last race of the day. I looked around and saw the members I was about to compete with. I could feel the tension building up around me. I heard the whistle blow and thinking that I have nothing to lose, I dove into the water. Again, my mind was blank during the race. As soon as I hit the touchpad, I glanced at the electronic screen and saw that I had come in third place with my personal best by almost two seconds. I also had only 0.6 seconds until the nationals and I even qualified for the Tokai area